Grand Theft Auto III (PlayStation 2) review

"Now and then there is a game that comes along that is like nothing else. A game that lets you live out your darkside, that everyone inevitably has. To be able to go ''whack'' some punk boy on the street, or go Kamikaze with cops shooting at you. Pedestrians at the sidewalk are at your mercy. You are in complete control in whether or not hundreds or people may live. And likely you won't let them live. That is Grand Theft Auto: 3. It is rightly rated Mature, as it is based on the darkside of the w..."

Now and then there is a game that comes along that is like nothing else. A game that lets you live out your darkside, that everyone inevitably has. To be able to go ''whack'' some punk boy on the street, or go Kamikaze with cops shooting at you. Pedestrians at the sidewalk are at your mercy. You are in complete control in whether or not hundreds or people may live. And likely you won't let them live. That is Grand Theft Auto: 3. It is rightly rated Mature, as it is based on the darkside of the world. It is exaggerated in the game, but the idea is true. There are mobs and there are murders, and for once you are part of it. It's an escape from the real world where you have no power, for here you are in total command.

STORY (8/10): You have no name. You escape with a blackguy named 8-Ball from a prison bus. After that you will come across at least a dozen memorable characters from various types of crime. You of course will run into the Italian Mafia easily, with Joey Salvatore and Luigi. Then you will come across the Japanese Mafia, that is fairly sick group of people. Along the way you will come across one person who desires your death more than anything else, a girl that will capture your heart, kind of, and a few other interesting surprises. A good story, that doesn't go that much into detail, but it is there.

GRAPHICS (12/15): The graphics are nice and fit the mood of the game. Each character has their own special look, as do each type of car. There is about 12 different type of citizens you can kill, with huge explosions of you like. The picture on the game is nice. It is not not down to any extreme, it just gets the job done and lets the gameplay take it from there.

SOUND (10/10): The voices are great. Each character has his/her own voice, that sounds like an actual real person of that job. The Jamaicans are the best, with all their rediculous phrases. Music wise, the radio system is a wonderful addition. You can listen to various radio stations on the game, and while they get repetive, you can least pick the type of music of your choice.

GAMEPLAY (50/50): First of all, in Grand Theft Auto you steal cars. That is the name of the game. All you have to do is hit the ''triangle'' button to throw a person out of a car. Then you can drive as fast as you like to get from place to place. Unlike the previous GTA games, it is also very important to be skilled out of the car. This is where you will use some of your wepaons. You have an array of about a dozen weapons to shoot up civilians, rival gang members, and major characters alike. That is the fun in the game. The array of weapons that you can use to your liking.

Now to the actual game part, there is a collection of missions. To do these missions you enter a blue circular area, to signal a cutscene. At these cutscenes you will get jobs and missions from various gangleaders. These missions are fun and entertaining, and differ from machine to machine. By doing this missions you can get newer missions, and new gang leaders. You will then be able to move on to one of the two other cities. The cities are each huge, and having three total is very confusing. You will have to play alot to actually figure out how to get to various places at the greatest possible speed.

This game is huge and there is alot to do in it. The cities are huge, the missions are plentiful and just the tons of chaos that you are able to create. That is GTA III, one huge experience.

REPLAYABILITY (10/10): There is just so much to do in this game. You can go out and search for rare cars. You can try to take on the cops, and steal FBI cars or a tank. You can just kill hundreds of people for your own amusement. The missions take a good deal of time to get through them all, and then there are just the rampage missions. There is alot to do in this game. More than you could ever imagine.

DIFFICULTY (4/5): This game is hard, especially near the end. Unless you cheat your way into winning the game, you will be forced to nearly pull out all your hair. This game is tough; very tough. Alot of the later missions require perfect shots, or some other trick or sorts. It is fun though, and the difficulty will not force you to quit.

OVERALL (95/100): Every Playstation owner should own this game. It is one huge experience you will not regret, for it is fun and every second of it is different from the last. This is one of the reasons I got my PS2, for it had high reviews and was critically acclaimed. It deserves the credit it gets. I highly recommend this to you, the viewer. This is a whole new experience that will give your dark side the pleasure it has always deserved.

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